Victory Campus too big for Skaneateles

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

On a recent vacation in the Fort Meyers, Fla. area, we decided to go see the Boston Red Sox spring training facility. I was quite surprised at the size of the facility, number of fields and traffic. On the day we were there they did not have a game — in fact they were sold out for the remainder of the season. They still had two police officers directing traffic and parking. One can only imagine the traffic when there is a game. The only thing you could do on that day was visit the gift shop and take a short tour of the main baseball field.

I asked how large the grounds were and they told me 106 acres. When I inquired why they had such a large facility with numerous fields, I was told that they hosted a lot of tourn aments like soccer, softball, baseball, etc.

Once I realized that the grounds were roughly the size of the proposed Victory Sports Complex, I imagined a facility like this in Skaneateles. What a mismatch! It was like having an elephant in a chicken yard. If people could see for themselves the size of this site and the development around the area, you would understand how this could have such a negative impact on our village.

Skaneateles is a unique place to live for a lot of reasons; most prominent is the village or small town’s “Norman Rockwell” feel. Seeing the Red Sox complex and imagining that facility in Skaneateles along with all the supporting motels, fast food restaurants and other businesses does not fit with what we love about our community.

I am not anti-progress, and an increased tax base would be nice, but I am not willing to give up the character of this unique town and the reason why I moved here for inappropriate development. If I wanted property values to go down, increased traffic, large crowds, and unrestricted development, I would have moved to New Jersey.